On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1077

combiningthem.
Flour Most cookies are made with pastry or
all-purpose flour, but both bread flour and
cake flour produce doughs and batters that
spread less (thanks respectively to more
gluten and more absorbant starch). A high
proportion of flour to water, as in shortbread
and pastry-dough cookies, limits both gluten
developmentandstarchgelation—aslittleas
20% of the starch in some dry cookies is
gelated—andproducesacrumblytexture.A
highproportionofwatertoflour,asinbatterbased cookies, dilutes gluten proteins, allows
extensivestarchgelation,andproduceseither
a soft, cakelike texture or a crisp, crunchy
one,dependingonthemethodandhowmuch
moisture is baked out of the cookie. For
doughs that need to hold their shape during
baking—thoserolledoutandstampedwitha
cookiecutter—ahighflourcontentandsome
gluten development are necessary. The baker


gives fluid batters some solidity by chilling
them,andthenshapesthembyextrudingthem
through a pastry pipe or setting them in
molds.
Acoarserbutmorefragilebackbonecan
becreatedbyreplacingsomeorallofthe
flourwithgroundnuts,asinclassic
macaroonsmadeonlywitheggwhites,sugar,
andalmonds.

Sugar Sugar makes several contributions to
cookie structure and texture. When creamed
withthefat,orbeatenwithegg,itintroduces
air bubbles into the mix and lightens the
texture. It competes with the flour starch for
water, and raises the starch gelation
temperature nearly to the boiling point: so it
adds hardness and crispness. A large
proportion of pure table sugar, sucrose,
contributes to hardness in another way. The
proportionofsugarinsomecookiedoughsis
so high that only about half the sugar